The Republican senator who flubbed a gotcha moment while questioning former Special Counsel Jack Smith knew the evidence he cited had not been vetted, a new report claims.
Eric Schmitt was warned in advance that the series of text messages he proudly displayed at Tuesday’s hearing were not properly vetted, a source familiar with the matter tells MS NOW.
Schmitt tried to corner Smith by asking whether he attended an Atlanta Hawks basketball game, a roundabout way of suggesting he was colluding with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who was investigating President Donald Trump’s election interference in Georgia.
Smith, Schmitt claimed, committed perjury when he said he did not go to a Hawks game in February 2024. Smith answered that he had actually been at an Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball game instead—creating a viral moment that continues to embarrass Schmitt.
The mishap originated when the Justice Department shared the texts with GOP staff on the Judiciary Committee, according to MS NOW. Chairman Chuck Grassley’s staff omitted the texts from a memo about information to be used in the hearing. Grassley did not share the messages with his Democratic colleagues, either.
Schmitt’s staff, the report claims, searched for information that might show a connection between Willis’ investigation and Smith’s. They were then given the texts, but with a warning that they had not been vetted. Schmitt’s staff was reportedly told they would need to complete the necessary vetting.
They apparently did not.
A fact-check would have revealed that the seat number mentioned in the texts sent between Smith’s staff does not exist in the Hawks’ home arena. Smith also appears in the crowd in videos of the Hawkeyes game in Maryland, about 550 miles from Atlanta.
Before his error, Schmitt was floated as a potential running mate for JD Vance in 2028, and was described as “trustworthy, intelligent, articulate and a deft political operator.”
The MAGA senator’s disastrous line of questioning may also reap consequences for a member of his staff.
Prior to Tuesday, the staffer on Schmitt’s team who held up the giant poster of the texts, Ethan Harper, was on track to leave his role as general counsel and join the White House in the Staff Secretary’s office. However, the episode has added some doubt to that transition, Politico reports. The extent of Harper’s behind-the-scenes involvement wasn’t immediately clear.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Schmitt’s office and the Justice Department for comment.
